Brian Naylor

In this role, he covers politics and federal agencies, including transportation and homeland security.

With more than 30 years of experience at NPR, Naylor has served as National Desk correspondent, White House correspondent, congressional correspondent, foreign correspondent and newscaster during All Things Considered. He has filled in as host on many NPR programs, including Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and Talk of the Nation.

During his NPR career, Naylor has covered many of the major world events, including political conventions, the Olympics, the White House, Congress and the mid-Atlantic region. Naylor reported from Tokyo in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, from New Orleans following the BP oil spill, and from West Virginia after the deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine.

While covering the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990s, Naylor's reporting contributed to NPR's 1996 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism award for political reporting.

Before coming to NPR in 1982, Naylor worked at NPR Member Station WOSU in Columbus, Ohio, and at a commercial radio station in Maine.

President Obama leaves Thursday night on a trip that will take him back to his father's homeland, while at the same time making him the first sitting president to visit two key East African nations: Kenya and Ethiopia.

The president's first stop is Kenya. He will not visit his father's ancestral village, administration officials say, citing security and logistical reasons. But he will meet privately with relatives, who may well include his father's second wife; Obama's step-grandmother, known as Mama Sarah; and his half-sister Auma Obama.

The government said Thursday it will make federal marriage benefits available to all same-sex couples.

The Obama administration had previously extended most federal benefits to married same-sex couples. But the federal government could not distribute Social Security and VA benefits to couples living in states where such marriages were prohibited.

The Two-Way

1:01 pm

Thu July 9, 2015

The New York Stock Exchange says a planned software update caused Wednesday's system shutdown that halted trading for more than 3.5 hours.

In a statement, the NYSE says its problems began Tuesday night with the rollout of a software release. The exchange says that as customers began connecting after 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday, "there were communication issues between customer gateways and the trading unit with the new release."

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The NYSE says it turns out the gateways were "not loaded with the proper configuration compatible with the new release."

The Two-Way

1:47 pm

Tue July 7, 2015

Big news today from Springfield: The voice of Mr. Burns is returning. Harry Shearer isn't leaving the cast of The Simpsons after all.

Fox, which has aired the show since 1989, said today that it is "proud to confirm that each and every member of the iconic series' voice cast will be returning to the roles they've brought to life since the show's beginnings as a series of animated shorts nearly 30 years ago."

Shearer also provides that voices of Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders and many other Simpsons characters.

Tue July 7, 2015

The Obama administration hopes to make solar power more accessible for low- and middle-income Americans. It's announcing a series of moves, including installing more solar energy units in federally subsidized housing, low cost loans for homeowners and a program to help renters.

The Two-Way

4:39 pm

Thu July 2, 2015

The federal government Thursday granted recognition to the Pamunkey Indian tribe of Virginia. The tribe, whose members encountered the first permanent English settlers some 400 years ago, had long sought the recognition.

The Pamunkey tribe has just over 200 members, about a quarter of whom live on a reservation near Richmond.

BP on Thursday announced an $18.7 billion settlement with the U.S. government, five Gulf Coast states and more than 400 local governments. The agreement comes five years after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion spewed millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Eleven workers were killed in the accident.

The company says the payments, to be made over the next 18 years, "settle all state and local claims arising from the event."

The Two-Way

3:11 pm

Wed July 1, 2015

The Justice Department says it is investigating "possible unlawful coordination" by several major airline carriers. American, Delta, Southwest and United Airlines have all confirmed receiving letters from the Justice Department.

In a statement, American said the department "seeks documents and information from the last two years that are related to statements and decisions about airline capacity."

A United spokesman said the company is complying fully in regard to the probe.

The Two-Way

2:28 pm

Wed July 1, 2015

Militants launched a number of deadly attacks on checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula early Wednesday. A group linked to the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Merrit Kennedy filed this report from Cairo for Newscast:

"In Egypt, militants launched a coordinated series of assaults in the restive north Sinai peninsula. The military says 17 soldiers were killed, though local security officials earlier in the day said more than 50 soldiers were killed.

President Obama on Wednesday announced the formal resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba after more than half a century of hostilities. The two countries have agreed to reopen embassies in Washington and Havana.

Standing in the White House Rose Garden, Obama called it "a historic step forward in our efforts to normalize relations with the Cuban government and people."

Obama said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Havana this summer to "proudly raise the flag over our embassy once more."

The Two-Way

12:34 pm

Tue June 30, 2015

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, flanked by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz (left) and U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman met with Iranian negotiators Tuesday at a hotel in Vienna.

The Iran nuclear talks, which had been scheduled to wrap up Tuesday, have been extended. The U.S. and the five other nations negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program announced they'll meet for another week, as it became clear that they weren't likely to reach a deal by today's deadline.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose political career has taken almost as many turns as a roulette wheel at an Atlantic City casino, is running for president.

He made the announcement Tuesday at Livingston High School, which he attended and where he was class president. Declaring "America is tired of hand-wringing and indecisiveness and weakness" in the White House, Christie said he is ready "to fight for the people of the United States of America."

9:33 am

Mon June 29, 2015

The Supreme court has ruled against an Obama administration effort to limit toxic mercury emissions from power plants, saying the costs of compliance should be taken into account at the very earliest stages of the regulatory process.

The spat between Donald Trump and Univision has taken another twist. Trump has told the cable channel to stop work on a gate between a golf resort he owns in Miami and adjacent Univision property, and in so many words, to "get off his lawn."

Although it's not clear that any work has begun on such a gate, Univision has told it's employees to stay away from the resort, according to the Miami Herald:

The Two-Way

1:02 pm

Fri June 26, 2015

Law enforcement personnel take cover Friday afternoon after cornering two escaped prisoners off of Route 30 in Malone, N.Y. One prisoner, Richard Matt, was shot dead by law enforcement. Authorities were still searching for escapee David Sweat late Friday night.

Hundreds of officers are following leads on the possible whereabouts of escapee David Sweat, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday night, but it's unclear right now whether the two men were hiding out together.

The Two-Way

4:33 pm

Wed June 24, 2015

The Department of Homeland Security says it is changing its family detention policies, but critics say the steps don't go far enough.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin releasing families now being held at ICE facilities who are "successful in stating a case of credible or reasonable fear of persecution in their home countries."

The families will have to post a monetary bond or other condition of release.

The director of the Office of Personnel Management underwent another grilling Wednesday, this time from members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Katherine Archuleta sat for more than three hours as lawmakers questioned her competence and her estimates of how many government workers may have had their data breached in the hacking of OPM's computers discovered this spring.

The Two-Way

1:51 pm

Mon June 22, 2015

We're still awaiting U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the two big blockbuster cases that have drawn attention this term: same-sex marriage and the Affordable Care Act. But the court did issue a number of decisions Monday in some lesser-known but interesting and important cases.

Major League Baseball says it is invalidating more than 60 million online ballots for the upcoming All-Star Game, citing irregularities.

Baseball fans outside Kansas City have been watching with shock and some outrage as the voting has so far placed Royals players in eight of the nine American League starting positions for the July 14 game.

Police in Brazil have arrested the leaders of the nation's two largest engineering and construction companies. Marcelo Odebrecht, head of Odebrecht SA, and Otavio Marques Azevedo, head of Andrade Gutierrez, were taken into custody in Friday morning raids linked to a scandal involving Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras.